There’s always a good place to cast a line

March 30, 2018

Spring winds continue to alter the plans of our local fleet. These are the days flats boaters wish they had bought the pointy model instead of the square one. Oh, my aching back.Heading offshore? Are you new to the shallow Gulf in heavy winds or bad weather? You went anyway and now your new bay boat the dealer said could take some really rough seas suddenly feels really small as water starts rolling in over the sides. Now what?Don't be this guy, his trusting passenger or worse, missing. Stay home - buy fish and lie if necessary.Good news is with hundreds of miles of fishy canals in the ...

10 reasons to catch a Miracle game this season

March 30, 2018

There is no better time of the year than spring, and with spring training just concluded, passionate baseball fans everywhere share a sense of optimism about the season to come.Professional baseball in Southwest Florida doesn't end when the Twins, Red Sox and Rays left town at the end of March. That's when the Fort Myers Miracle are just getting started! Our players don't have multi-million dollar, long-term contracts, throngs of adoring fans, expensive homes and fancy cars. Perhaps one day they'll make it to "The Show," but until that happens, their proving ground is right here at ...

Is your trailer ready for the trip up north?

March 23, 2018

With May, tarpon time and South-west Florida sub-tropical heat fast approaching, Cape anglers are preparing boats and gear to do battle with the Silver King. While our anglers get ready for a hopefully great tarpon season, another large segment of our population will be preparing to return north pulling boats and RV trailers.Is your trailer ready for the long trip home? As important, is your tow vehicle up to the task?Trucks pulling heavy boats generate heat and lots of it. When choosing a vehicle to tow "Old Faithful" back to New York, buy a dealer-installed tow package, which should ...

Enjoying another of those special fishing experiences

March 16, 2018

If you fished inshore this past Wednesday, you were faced with nearly impossible conditions. Days of wind and cold had turned the waters into a brown, chalky soup. High winds seemingly came from every direction making boat control, as well as accurate casting, a real chore.Pro-blem was my friends had fled the dreaded dreary snow and ice of Philadel-phia to bask in the mid-80 degree Southwest Florida sunshine that had comforted residents all February, and after sitting inside for months, were dying to catch some fish.The first day they hit the (cold) beach with my one friend casting his ...

Be prepared when heading offshore to fish

March 9, 2018

Ready to get into the offshore bottom fishing game? The taste of fresh grouper or delicious snapper tingles your taste buds and you've finally decided to venture offshore and bring some home?Equip your boat. Think electronics, your underwater eyes. Today's incredibly advanced sonar machines do everything but make coffee. Learning to interpret what you see on the screen is the deal, some say an art. As with anything, you get what you pay for and big time sonar rigs go for big money, but with today's technology, consumer demand and mass production, there are lots of really good useable ...

Warm weather may mean an early start to tarpon season

March 2, 2018

With continuing warm weather throughout the region tarpon may show up earlier this year, putting the tarpon fleet off Sanibel in early April instead of May. I'm already seeing small resident tarpon rolling in my canal system after disappearing for months. These fish don't usually arrive till early to mid-April.Snook are eating and wanting a variety of lures and baits with twitch baits (MirrOlures), spoons and fake shrimp being the hot lures these past few weeks along mangrove shorelines and dock structure.Cast your sinking Mirr-Olure along a deep edge or dock and let it sink toward the ...